


Written In The Stars

by MiaSif



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Baker Gabriel (Supernatural), Contest Entry, Gabriel and Dean are bros, Halloween, Lawyer Sam Winchester, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Ugly Sweaters, little angst, tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 05:35:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21031085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiaSif/pseuds/MiaSif
Summary: Cas asks Dean if they can celebrate Halloween. It's a request out of left field and although surprised by it, Dean is empathic in his NO. Aren't their lives already Halloween 24/7?Gabriel calls him an idiot and dares Dean to accompany him to trip through the galaxies to visit alternate realities. Dean doesn't really care about other universes, Apocalypse World and the Bad Place left a bad taste in his mouth and he's pretty sure it wasn't just the damn lizard he had to eat that left it there. Still, he can't let Gabriel get the best of him so he agrees and Gabriel flies them off before Dean can even finish his threat consisting of holy oil and an open flame should so much as a hair on his pretty (adorable, if you ask him) little head gets damaged.The trip proves to be worth it and Dean learns that just because it's "The End" doesn't mean he can't live life. And, sure, if the other world's are anything to go by, he's late to the party but, hey, better late than never, right?Dean decides that he's going to be Zorro for Halloween.





	Written In The Stars

“You’re an idiot, you know that?”

Dean turns from where he was facing away. He’d kept his head turned so he wouldn’t have to see Cas’s downtrodden face or have to watch him walk away.

He turns now and gives Gabriel his most withering glare. Monsters usually flee at this look and even humans side-step him neatly when he pierces them with his angry green eyes. Gabriel just looks bored.

He watches as Gabriel pseudo-yawns and Dean loses the fight against not rolling his eyes at the dramatic son of bitch that just joined them one day and never fucking left.

Dean’s never asked him how he got back from Apocalypse World. He doesn’t know and doesn’t care. He’s just glad that now, a few months later, said son of a bitch is back up to full power and Dean has him on speed dial. Because he refuses to fucking pray to him.

Gabriel pushes away from the pillar from whence he’s leaning on and pads over to stand in front of Dean wearing a ridiculous set of pajamas that he made himself. They are tight onesie that have moose heads all over them. Dean's pretty sure it's the arch-douche's attempt to woo Sam. 

“Would it really have been so bad to say yes?”

“We’re. In. A. Fight. Against. The. Biggest. Dick. Of. All.” Dean grits out.

Gabriel expels a breath and then says, “But in hindsight, knowing what you know now, can’t you see that you’ve basically always been? You won then, you’ll win now. Just because you aren’t seeing the solution yet doesn’t mean it’s not there, doesn’t mean you won’t.”

“And we never will if we don’t keep our heads in the game.” Dean responds, ready to walk away. He’s so done with this stupid conversation.

Gabriel doesn’t let him though. A hand reaches out and holds on to his wrist and, yeah, ok, Dean is used to talking down beings far more powerful than he but for some reason he tends to forget to be afraid around Gabriel.

“Dean. No matter where you end up in the afterlife, you’re still going to have your memories. Why wouldn’t you want to create good ones?”

Dean stops. Turns to look at Gabriel’s hand on his forearm and then meets his eyes.

“My good memories stopped when I ran with Sammy out of that Chuck forsaken house that was already charring my mother.”

He thinks that should be enough to get Gabriel to let him go.

It’s not.

Instead the hold gets the tiniest bit harder and Dean thinks sometimes Gabriel forgets his own strength. He’s not going to say anything though. If the son of a bitch breaks his bloody arm he’ll make him fix it. That’ll teach him.

“Did they, really? So after that, you don’t have a single good memory of you and Sam having beers, going fishing, playing tricks on each other? You don’t have any good memories of you and Cas, riding around, wearing the stupid cowboy hats, teaching him about humanity? Nothing?”

And damn, if that doesn’t bring memories to Dean’s mind. He knows Gabriel’s looking through his mind though and that rankles him, there’s no other way the dick would know any of this.

“What’s your point?” He says, harshly, pulling his arm roughly out of Gabriel’s grasp.

“Create more to hold on to, is my point. Cassie just wants to do Halloween. When have you ever done Halloween?”

“My whole life is Halloween. And since when do you give a damn about your brother, anyway?”

In less than a blink, Dean finds himself against the wall that Gabriel was just leaning against.

“Don’t presume to know me, Dean. You don’t know shit. As a matter of fact, what say you and I take a little trip?”

“What? Another one of your constructs? I know you’re trying to get into Sam’s pants, you won’t stand a chance if you hurt me or leave me somewhere. Or kill me another a hundred times.”

Personally, Dean doesn’t think he stands a chance anyway but if memory serves correctly, Sam has always had an affinity for monsters. He wouldn’t really put it past him.

“Don’t be stupid. No, what I’m going to do is show you something. What do you say, Dean? I want your actual consent this time. Unless you’re scared.”

Dean glares at him because he knows Gabriel is just pushing his buttons on purpose. But, as intended, now he’s stuck. He has to say yes.

“Fine. But-“

Before Dean can finish his threat, they’re gone.

_________________

An hour later, they’re back and Dean’s mindset is drastically different. He’s not sure how Gabriel feels about it though so he’s holding back a little.

“That was…”

Gabriel nods.

“Yeah. I know. So? What now?”

Dean watches as Gabriel sticks his hands in his pocket. A tell, if the other Gabriel was to be believed.

Gabriel had taken them through 5 different alternate universes. Not only were Sam and Gabriel together in each one but Dean and Cas were too and wasn’t that a shock. The first time Dean and Gabriel came upon them it was during an intimate moment and Dean will never forget the look on his counterparts face as he was held in the air with only Cas’s wings holding him up as Cas pumped into him. Cas had simply looked at them, transported them to what Dean assumed was the living room and had left the thought in their minds to wait for a little bit. It had taken little Dean two more realities before he completely fell back to sleep.

Three of the other world’s had been alternate versions of their own timeline, the other two had been completely different. In one of them Dean was a quarterback of a football team and Cas studied bees and they lived together in a massive house they shared with Sam and Gabriel and both couples had a child. That one had hurt. Dean loved kids. In this universe he’d never be so lucky.

In another world, Sam and Gabriel are both lawyers although Gabriel doesn’t do that anymore and instead spends his time baking. Dean would have done anything to remove the look on his Gabriel’s face when he found out that in that world his brothers Michael, Samandriel and Balthazar all lived in the same city as him. Dean thought the archangel might cry and it really brought it home for him how much Gabriel had lost. And just like him, Gabriel just picked himself up time and time again and kept going.

Sure, Dean hadn’t run but Sam had and Dean now thought that was a similarity that would helpboth of them heal. Once they got together, of course. Dean couldn’t deny he was Team Sam and Gabriel now. Team Sabriel if his memory on fan fiction served correctly. Anyway, they’d both run to get escape the fighting and both had been dragged back. Dean sighed to himself. He couldn’t give his brother his life back but he could try to make it a little better and when was the last time he played a joke on his brother anyway? He wouldn’t do the Nair thing again, he’d secretly felt bad about that one the first time around, but hair dye did exist and Dean wasn’t beyond putting bleach in his brother’s fruity shampoo.

Meeting other Cas’s was a shock to his system. And, ok, Dean wasn’t as blind to what was there as he liked to pretend but something another Dean had told him, stuck with him. That Cas and Dean had been really special. Cas was stronger than a seraph although not quite archangel and Dean had fully embodied being Righteous Man, something _this _Dean hadn’t thought about in over a decade.

The two Dean’s had stepped outside to talk by themselves when that Dean brought up Cas. Dean admitted that in his world they weren’t a thing and wasn’t sure that they’d ever be able to make it work.

“I can tell you’ve been to other worlds. In how many have you and Cas been together?”

“All of them.” Dean had responded.

That Dean nodded.

“Don’t forget that, Dean. Me and Cas…in all the worlds, a hundred realities, a thousand lifetimes, I’d find my Cas. You are you but you are me. I _keep_ what’s important to me. I hold on tight and I fight hard for them. You’re a fighter. So fight.

His words had impacted Dean and he’d made a mental note to himself to have that conversation with Cas. As soon as possible.

The other thing that stayed with him is how much happier all of those versions of Cas were. If Dean were being honest with himself he’d say that being with him (Dean) really suited Cas. In each reality Cas had smiled more, had seemed younger, and although Dean was partial to his Cas’s trench coat it had been really nice to see him in an ugly Christmas sweater. That was really what made Dean’s mind up for him. The Dean of that world had told him how much holidays, any of them, made Cas happy.

_“Indulging him is a small price to pay for his happiness, wouldn’t you say?”_

Having seen Cas’s face break out into a gummy smile had cemented for Dean that, yes, it was truly a small price to pay. He'd paid a lot more for less. This was a cakewalk. 

The last thing to make a difference was seeing the other him and Gabriel. In every universe, they were best friends. When they’d come across one universe and he and Gabriel were sleeping together, he’d furiously whispered, “What the hell is this?” At his counterpart.

He’d understood immediately because he’d shifted out from where Gabriel was curled into him and took him to another room.

“Don’t talk about him like that. He’s my best friend.”

“Gabriel. Gabriel’s your best friend? Are you insane?”

Dean’s Gabriel had just stood by silently. It was the third reality they’d been to and in all of them both of them had been really close to one another.

“Why are you sleeping with him?”

Dean had crossed his arms defensively.

“He doesn’t like sleeping alone. He sleeps better if I’m there.”

“Like he cares about shit like that.”

“Shut your mouth, dumbass. Your Gabriel is right there. And from the looks of it, he could use a fucking hug.”

With that, Dean had walked over to Dean’s Gabriel and had enveloped him in a hug. Dean hadn’t missed the way Gabriel relaxed into it.

_Was it possible the dick with wings had feelings?_

He got slapped on the back of the neck for the thought. Apparently, that Dean could read thoughts.

Gabriel trying to creep out of the kitchen brought Dean back to reality.

“Look man.”

Gabriel froze.

“I’m not. I’m…different from those other Dean’s.”

“I’m not asking you for anything, Dean.” Gabriel snapped, finally losing his composure.

“I know that, dumbass. I’m just saying…it looks like our counterparts had a lot of fun. I’m not exactly that cuddly and you’re not sleeping in my damn bed but I guess it wouldn’t hurt if we actually got along. We are on the same team after all.”

Dean waits for his response as he remembers how one of the Dean and Gabriel’s recounted for them a time that Gabriel had made them miniature and they crawled up Cas’s nose, just to look around and to bug him from the inside at the same time. They’d had to flee when Cas sent a blast of grace after them.

“We…could always do that here.” Gabriel says hesitantly.

Normally, having someone read his mind would set Dean off but in this moment, he can’t be bothered to care.

He gives Gabriel a brief nod and a small smile then heads out of the kitchen in search of Cas.

It’s high time him and the angel had a talk.

________________

Two weeks later:

Dean feels like a bloody idiot and that’s saying something. Sure he’s dressed like Zorro and sure he looks like a badass thanks to Gabriel making him look authentic as shit but at the end of the day he’s still a forty year old man dressed up for Halloween.

Cas is a bee.

Cas. Is. A. Bee.

Antennae on his head and all.

But that other Dean was onto something. Seeing Cas give him the first real smile Dean thinks he’s ever seen in the ten plus years he’s known him…it was everything Dean could have ever wanted. Dean had tried to hide his excitement when Cas was looking confused and opening the shopping bag. Then Dean remembered how much happier the other Dean’s were and decided _fuck it._

Gabriel had been right anyway, if all he was going to have left at the end of this were memories than he’d be damned before he let the bad ones overtake the good ones. So he’d smiled as widely as he could and sure Sam looked a little concerned at the manic grin but he thinks Cas understood because he gave him a smile back. A smile that grew into the biggest smile Dean had ever seen (and would never forget) when he pulled out the stupid yellow and black striped onesie.

“Dean!” He’d exclaimed happily.

“Are we really doing this?”

“Yes, angel.” Dean had replied, pulling his angel in and giving him a kiss. Their talk had gone really well. Dean had basically blurted out what he and Gabriel had just gotten back from doing and gave himself credit for only stumbling a little over the last part.

“So I’m thinking we should be together. I mean, I feel this…thing between us, don’t you?”

Cas had looked stunned before shaking himself and assaulting Dean with his tongue. It was messy and their teeth had clacked against one another. They hadn’t gone any further than that yet but Dean was very happy for the first time in a long time.

He looks over to his right and takes in Sabriel (as he’s still privately calling Sam and Gabriel in his mind). Gabriel is dressed in a chef’s outfit, tall hat and all and lately he’s been saying he’s going to learn how to properly bake. Sam’s face was a sight to behold when Dean had offered himself up as guinea pig for the pies.

“You’ve got to have pie!”

Sam is rolling his eyes and isn’t dressed up as anything (_our lives are Halloween, Dean_) but Dean doesn’t mind because Sam is smiling and it’s wide enough that his dimples are out and honestly, it’s been way too long since Dean has seen them. He vows to try and make them appear more often. He’ll come around no matter how hard Dean has to work at it.

Plus, there is the other small matter of Sam's hair being blue. Yes, Dean had gone there. He grins to himself. He's sure Sam is going to retaliate but that's the point. To bring back some more fun into their lives.

Besides, he thinks Gabriel will help out with that.

Between the two of them, they’ll teach Sammy how to be a kid again.

He and Sammy have had tough lives, he thinks as he slides an arm around Gabriel’s neck and gives him a slight one sided hug, but he’s going to make the best out of every day because if he’s counting on his memories to go with them when they’re gone then he’s going to make damn sure to live each day as though it were their last.

After all, with their jobs, it very well might be.


End file.
